One of the Shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the Saas Ko’sah Shrine or A Major Test of Strength. This shrine requires Link to, as the title suggests, prove his strength by defeating a Guardian Scout and completing the shrine. This shrine may seem a little intimidating, but it is the same as the other test of strength shrine with just the difference of a stronger Guardian Scout. In this guide, you’ll learn how to defeat the Guardian Scout, complete the Saas Ko’sah Shrine, get the chest, and claim the Spirit Orb.
Link will be rewarded with Spirit Orbs for completing Shrines. The Spirit Orbs obtained can be exchanged for more Heart Containers or Stamina Vessels. As there are 120 Shrines all over Hyrule, Link can get 120 Spirit Orbs. You can decide whether you want Link to have more Hearts or Stamina.
Location
The Saas Ko’sah Shrine can be found at the top of a flight of stairs of the Docks of the Hyrule Castle (Hyrule Castle is located north of Hyrule Field in the center of the map of Hyrule). The Saas Ko’sah Shrine is one of eight shrines in the Central Tower region of Hyrule.
Link is not required to go through the front gate of the Hyrule Castle as there is an entrance to the Docks behind the castle. To find it, head to the northwestern part of the castle across the Hyrule Castle Moat (south of the Elma Knolls), then face towards Hyrule Castle, and you will see a large opening that leads into a cave under the castle. To reach the area, Link can Paraglide over, create ice blocks using the Cryonis Rune ability, or swim across the moat. Then, Link will reach the Docks.
Upon reaching the Docks, Link will encounter a bunch of enemies like Black Lizalfos and Keese. There is also a Great Flameblade that Link can pick up in the area.
After defeating the enemies and heading up the flight of stairs, you will find a sizeable unlit torch, and the Saas Ko’sah Shrine will still be hidden. For it to appear, Link must first set the large torch on fire. This can be done by striking with any flame-based weapon (like the Great Flameblade that was picked up earlier), shooting it with a Fire Arrow, or shooting it with a normal Arrow that has been lit on fire by aiming it and letting it touch a torch in the area that is already on fire.
Now that the large torch is lit on fire, the Saas Ko’sah Shrine will emerge from the ground!
A Major Test of Strength
Before descending to the Saas Ko’sah Shrine, make sure that Link has enough weapons (especially Guardian weapons as they are very effective against Guardians), shields, bows, arrows, and health food (cooked or not) to use.
Upon entering Saas Ko’sah Shrine, you will see an entrance to a huge room just ahead of Link, and embedded on the floor are several huge metal cubes that can only move vertically. To complete this shrine, this is what Link must do:
- Proceed to the entrance, and after going through the door, a Guardian Scout will emerge on the ground after the gate closes behind Link. This Guardian Scout is armed with an ax, a sword, and a spear.
- Now you must kill the Guardian Scout. At the beginning of the battle, the Guardian Scout will come towards Link with slices with its sword, stabs with its spear, and attacks with its ax, which you’ll know because it will wind up. You can dodge this attack or dodge at the perfect time to perform a Flurry Rush to inflict major damage. The Guardian Scout may also shoot lasers, but this can be evaded by dodging away or deflected using the shield.
- After taking enough damage, the Guardian Scout will eventually jump back and start spinning rapidly towards Link. Before it charges towards Link, quickly press the up directional button, select the Magnesis Rune ability, press the L button to aim, aim at a huge metal cube on the floor, press the A button to activate, then pull it up to set up a small pillar. Make sure that the huge metal cube is in the middle of Link and the Guardian Scout, and do not deactivate the Magnesis Rune ability, as deactivating it will result in the huge metal cube being dropped back down. Then, when it spins towards Link and hits the huge metal cube, the Guardian Scout will be stunned, which will then be an opportunity to deal damage.
- After depleting its health to around half, the Guardian Scout will start to jump back and fire a constant laser in a large arc around it which will inflict damage if Link is hit. Fortunately, the spinning laser will also cause an updraft. You can jump towards the updraft and quickly use the Paraglider to go high up in the air. Once Link is up in the air, aim the bow and arrow to slow down time and fire a hand on its eye to stun it and deal damage. If you don’t want to do that, you can stand out of the laser’s range, then aim and fire an arrow at the right time to hit the Guardian Scout’s eye and stun it and deal damage (but, come on, that first method is just cooler to do).
- When its health is nearly depleted, the Guardian Scout will turn blue and will start absorbing energy while targeting Link with a red laser (just like Guardian Stalkers and Decayed Guardians). After absorbing enough energy, it will fire several blasts toward its target, which can inflict major damage. To evade this, sprint or close the distance by running towards it and dodging the blasts, or you can fire arrows at its eyes and deal some damage. It is worth mentioning that you can also attack it while the Guardian Scout is still absorbing energy.
- After defeating it, the Guardian Scout will drop its Ancient Battle Axe++, Guardian Sword++, and Guardian Spear++ for the taking, along with a couple of Ancient Shafts, Gears, and Screws.
- Continue towards the altar, where you will see a chest just before the altar. Open the chest to obtain a Flameblade.
- Finally, continue up the stairs and talk to the monk to claim your Spirit Orb!
As mentioned above, the Saas Ko’sah Shrine, or A Major Test of Strength, is one of eight shrines in the Central Tower region. The other shrines are the Wahgo Katta Shrine or the Metal Connections, the Rota Ooh Shrine or the Passing of the Gates, the Kaam Ya’tak Shrine or the Trial of Power, the Dah Kaso Shrine or A Minor Test in Strength, the Katah Chuki Shrine or A Minor Test of Strength, the Namika Ozz Shrine or A Modest Test of Strength, and the Noya Neha Shrine or A Minor Test Of Strength.
